Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1887-07-22
The Value of Beauty in Selling
Products.

To the man who has fruit and other
products for sale mere beauty as such has
a value that can be measured BY hard
silver dimes and hard gold dollars.
Go along the street of some town early
in the morning, when the corner fruit
stand proprietors are getting ready for
the days york. Notice how shey polish
the apples with cloth until they are rosy
and glistening This work, which adds
to the beauty of their wares, is profitable,
for it makes quicker sales and better
prices Wait an hour until sales begin.
You will see that of every ten purchasers
nine select the handsomest apple or
orange. no matter what its quality may
be. Likely they know nothing of the
variety, or could not distinguish varieties
if they knew their qualities. However.
this may be, it is the handsomest fruits
that sell first and at the best prices.
Go now to the vegetable market and
you will have further evidence that beau
ty has value. About vegetables in gen.
eral there is not much beauty, yet it is
possible so to arrange them
on the tables that what beauty they
have is enhanced and made so promi-
nent that it cannot fail to impress the in
tending purchaser. Nearly every stall
keeper understands this; but some are
more particular than others and have a
better eye and taste; such have the best
arranged displays and sell out earliest and
at best prices. Berries and other fruits
also may be made to look fresher by group
ing contrasting coors.
Every city fruit dealer also well under
stands how well little colored netting
over a basket or crate of berries tempts
the passei.5y to purchase. He buys not
because the netting is nice, but because
the fruit beneath it looks bright, handsome,
tempting,
1t is strange that the growers do not
properly appreciate the value of beauty
and how to enhance and preserve it as
these things have been learned by the city
dealers. 1t will not do for us to say that
this is because it is their business TO sell,
for it is also our business to sell. The
fruit grower or market gardener
may not sell to the consumer; in fact,
very few of the former do; nevertheless
both fruit grower and gardener must
sell to some one. To sell judiciously is as
important as rightly to cultivate or season
ably to harvest. If we handle our produce
properly from the beginning we can have
more beauty to sell than the dealer who
displays well fruit that the producer has
improperly handled; and the dealer will
buy this beauty as readily and pay as good
price for il as the consumer does.
know from sad experience that if the
berry grower would preserve well the
beauty OF his berries he must keep sharp
watch on his pickers. | know also that
dirt on the box or craze detracts from the
berry. rarely have the boxes returned
to me from the nearby market; it does
not pay.
| make my own boxes, and if the stuff
is not bright have it scrubbed off, using
strong soft soap. This can be done very
rapidly. and adds wonderfully to appear
ances. No one cares to eat more dirt than
he must. If boxes and crates are dingy or
dirty people are apt to think the berries
are. Berries in dirty looking boqes do
not, at least, tempt the appetite; hence
there is another and good reason why
clean boxes sell fruit more readily and at
better prices.
| find always that money spent for net
ting is well expended; but netting must
be used judiciously. Most people prefer
their strawberries not dead ripe; hence
the netting of these must be of shade to
make them brighter, but no darker colored
in appearance. On the other hand Black
cap raspberries, and especially blackber-
ries, sell best when they show deep,
pronounced color, especially in our north
ern markets. Now let the netting be pure
white and as the purchaser draws it aside
to examine the berries they look dark and
bright, and the purchaser is sure they are
nicely ripened and fresh. - Popular
Gardening.